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EDITION  250  COPIES 


VI' 


THE  EARLIEST  MAP  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


THE 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME 
MANHATTAN 

With  Historical  and  Ethnological  Notes 


BY 
WILLIAM   WALLACE  TOOKER 


WITH  MAP 


NEW  YORK 

FRANCIS   P.  HARPER 
1901 


OF  TH£ 

UNIVERSITY 


\m 
-™>    ^^'' 

~i          /»'  VlA**** 

**&&» 

COPYRIGHT,  1901, 

BY 
FRANCIS  P.  HARPER. 


TO 
HERBERT  FOSTER  GUNNISON 

OF  THE 

BROOKLYN   DAILY  EAGLE 

WHOSE  UNWAVERING  INTEREST  IN  MY  WORK 
LED  TO  ITS  CONTINUANCE 

THESE  ALGONQUIAN   SERIES 

ARE 

RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  advent  of  civilization  in  the 
seventeenth  century  found  that  por 
tion  of  our  country,  from  which 
these  studies  in  nomenclature  have 
been  derived,  inhabited  by  various 
tribes  of  the  great  Algonquian  * 
family  f  —  a  family  whose  territorial 

*  Algonquian  ;  contracted  from  Algo- 
mequin,  an  Algonkin  word,  signifying 
"  Those  on  the  other  side  of  the  river," 
/.  <?.,St.  Lawrence.  —  Trumbull. 

f  '  '  There  are  many  linguistic  families  in 
North  America  [58],  and  in  a  number  of 

9 


^ 


IO  Introduction. 

possessions  were  greater  and  whose 
descendants  are  to-day  far  more  nu 
merous  than  that  of  any  other  North 
American  linguistic  stock.*  There 
is  great  probability,  from  evidence 

these  there  are  many  tribes  speaking  di 
verse  languages.  It  is  important,  there 
fore,  that  some  form  should  be  given  to  the 
family  name  by  which  it  may  be  distin 
guished  from  the  name  of  a  single  tribe  or 
language.  In  many  cases  some  one  lan 
guage,  rather  than  a  stock,  has  been  taken 
as  the  type  and  its  name  given  to  the  en 
tire  family;  so  that  the  use  of  a  language 
and  that  of  the  stock  are  identical.  This 
is  inconvenient  and  leads  to  confusion. 
For  such  reason  it  has  been  decided  to 
give  each  family  name  the  termination  in 
'  an'  or  '  ian.'  "— J.  W.  Powell,  Seventh  Ann. 
Report  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 

*  Their  numbers  now  approximate  one 
hundred  thousand,  of  whom  a  little  more 
than  sixth-tenths  reside  in  Canada. 


Introduction.  1 1 

gradually  accumulating,  that  the 
builders  of  the  famous  earthworks 
and  mounds  of  the  Ohio  valley,  and 
of  other  mounds  in  localities  trend 
ing  to  the  northwest  as  far  as  the 
prairies  of  Wisconsin,  were  people 
of  the  same  stock.  If  this  possibility 
proves  on  further  research  to  be  an  as 
sured  fact,  it  should  be  an  additional 
reason  for  studying  all  minutiae  relat 
ing  to  this  justly  celebrated  family. 

The  various  clans  of  these  people 
speak  to  us  to-day  in  appellations 
which  they  bestowed  upon  moun 
tains,  lakes,  rivers,  headlands,  and 
other  natural  features  of  our  land, 
extending  from  the  snow-clad  peaks 
of  the  Rockies,  in  the  far  northwest, 


1 2  Introduction. 

to  the  icy  cliffs  of  bleak  Labrador 
on  the  east,  and  stretching  south 
ward  as  far  as  the  fragrant  pines  of 
the  balmy  Carolinas.  These  names 
are  abundantly  strewn  over  the 
whole  of  this  vast  area.  A  few 
clusters  from  this  vineyard  have 
been  garnered  here  and  there  for 
the  purposes  of  study,  but  as  yet 
the  harvest  awaits  the  gleaner. 
Their  analysis  will  bring  light  to 
bear  on  many  intricate  problems, 
unravel  the  myths  of  tradition,  add 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  early  his 
tory  of  many  localities,  and  give  us 
an  insight  into  the  psychology  of 
the  aboriginal  mind  often  unobtain 
able  in  any  other  way. 


Introduction.  13 

The  attention  of  many  societies, 
historical  and  scientific,  is  being 
daily  called  to  the  question  of  our 
Amerindian  names.*  Their  signi 
fications  are  being  daily  sought  after 
by  the  historian,  by  the  student,  by 
the  lawmaker,  and  by  the  summer- 
cottager,  each  for  varying  intents. 
Furthermore,  the  ancient  Indian 
names  of  localities  are  being  resur- 

*  "  Amerind,  Ameridian,  Amerindic,  an 
arbitrary  compound  of  the  leading  syllables 
of  the  frequently  used  phrase  '  American 
Indian,'  now  adopted  by  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology,  to  designate  the  native  Ameri 
can  tribes"  (American  Anthropologist,  N. 
S.,  vol.  i.  p.  502).  The  publisher  of  this 
series  thought  best  not  to  use  this  com 
pound  as,  not  being  generally  known  or 
adopted,  it  might  create  some  confusion. 


14  Introduction. 

rected  from  their  hidden  folds  in 
the  quaint  and  faded  script  of  the 
past,  where  they  have  laid  neglected 
for  generation  after  generation,  and 
are  once  again  bestowed  where  they 
originated  centuries  ago. 

Therefore,  as  will  be  observed,  it  is 
not  merely  the  desire  to  satisfy  a  brief 
curiosity  that  impels  us  to  the  consid 
eration  of  the  real  meaning  and  true 
origin  of  these  significant  terms,  but 
a  far  more  desirable  and  enlightened 
aim  ;  although  curiosity,  as  the  em 
bryo  of  active  intelligence,  inves 
tigation,  and  thought,  sometimes 
leads  to  unexpected  results  in  all 
channels  of  scientific  exploration. 

As  our  late  distinguished  ethnolo- 


Introduction.  1 5 

gist,  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  once  re 
marked  :  *  "  Certainly  it  would  be 
a  most  legitimate  anxiety  which 
should  direct  itself  to  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  correct  form  and  precise 
meaning  of  these  names  as  pecu 
liarly  national  designations.  One 
would  think  that  this  alone  would 
not  fail  to  excite  something  more 
than  a  languid  curiosity  in  Ameri 
can  linguistics,  at  least  in  our  insti 
tutions  of  learning  and  societies  for 
historical  research." 

With  these  aims  in  view,  the  pres 
ent  series  of  Algonquian  studies  have 
been    assembled,    revised,  and  with 
additional  notes  are  submitted,  as  a 
*  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  309. 


1 6  Introduction. 

slight  addition  to  the  synonyms  of 
the  Algonquian  family  and  bibli 
ography  of  American  history. 

WM.  WALLACE  TOOKER. 

SAG  HARBOR,  N.  Y., 

August  i,  1900. 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  THE   NAME 
MANHATTAN.* 


|T  seems  quite  apropos  at 
the  present  time,  now  the 
Greater  New  York  has 
become  an  assured  certainty,  and  as 
the  term  Manhattan  has  been  chosen 

*  This  essay  was  read  before  Section  H 
(Anthropology),  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Buffalo,  in 
1896,  by  Prof.  W.  J.  McGee,  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology,  in  the  absence  of  the  author, 
and  printed  in  the  Brooklyn  Eagle 
Almanac  for  1897.  It  has  been  revised  and 
enlarged. 

17 


1 8     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

to  designate  the  first  and  principal 
borough  of  this  great  civic  consolida 
tion,  that  a  full  connotation  of  the 
name  should  be  presented,  especially 
as  it  has  been  occasionally  applied 
to  the  lesser  New  York,  and  is  now 
the  title  of  many  of  its  corporations  ; 
and,  furthermore,  at  an  early  period 
was  by  the  Dutch  claimed  to 
describe  the  whole  province.  In 
proof  of  this  last  assumption,  the 
following  appears  in  Heermann's 
Journal  of  the  Dutch  Embassy 
to  Maryland  in  the  year  1659.* 
"  And  hereabouts  we  gave  him  to 
understand  that  Manhattans,  signi 
fied  the  whole  country,  having  pre- 
*  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  ii.  p.  92. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan,      ig 

served  the  ancient  name  of  the 
Indian  nations  among  whom  the 
Dutch  first  settled."  This  quota 
tion  bears  witness  that  the  Dutch 
made  use  of  the  term  identically 
the  same  as  the  English  did  the 
names  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut,  without  any  consideration  what 
ever  for  its  limited  topographical 
application  as  understood  by  those 
who  bestowed  it,  and  thus  by  adop 
tion  it  became — in  the  words  of  an 
eminent  ethnologistf — a  mere  distin 
guishing  mark,  destitute  of  its  origi 
nal  self-interpreting  faculty  which 
it  possessed  in  its  own  language. 

*Trumbull,  Names  in  Connecticut,  In 
troduction,  p,  iii. 


2O      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

So  many  problems — geographical, 
historical,  and  anthropological — en 
ter  into  the  discussion  as  to  its  origin 
and  meaning  that  a  complete  colla 
tion  of  contributing  data  bearing 
upon  these  points  would  necessarily 
carry  the  subject  to  a  much  greater 
length  than  the  limits  of  the  present 
paper  would  warrant,  or  its  title 
might  seem  to  indicate. 

Moreover,  the  fact  appears, 
whether  designating  an  island, 
people,  or  province,  the  name  is  so 
interwoven  into  the  history  of  the 
Dutch  settlement  of  New  York,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  consider  the  deri 
vation  of  the  first  without  advert 
ing  in  a  greater  degree  to  the  latter. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     2 1 

Again,  as  some  of  the  questions 
involved  require  careful  examination 
of  the  early  maps  and  an  accurate 
study  of  their  relation  to  the  date  of 
settlement,  also  a  critical  scrutiny  of 
those  which  may  be  cartographical 
perversions,  and  therefore  untrust 
worthy  as  an  authority,  it  behooves 
us  to  be  very  cautious  in  accepting 
conclusions  based  upon  a  source 
that  more  than  possibly  had  a  motive 
for  distorting  facts. 

Not  only  is  the  origin  of  the  name 
so  encompassed,  but  the  derivations 
offered  for  it  in  later  times  are  so 
numerous  and  so  doubtful  that  it 
would  seem  almost  superfluous  to 
add  another  to  the  already  long  list 


22      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

unless  something  convincing  can  be 
offered  in  its  favor,  for  I  know  of 
no  name  of  aboriginal  bestowal  that 
has  had  more  conjectural  significa 
tions  and  derivations  assigned  to  it 
than  this  same  simple  name,  Man 
hattan. 

Many  prominent  ethnologists  and 
historians  have  had  a  part  in  sug 
gesting  these  derivations,  and  their 
opinions  will  be  carefully  noted  and 
considered,  as  far  as  possible  in  their 
chronological  order.  Therefore,  it 
is  not  only  the  derivation  and  ety 
mology  of  the  name  that  is  to  be 
considered,  but  also  so  much  of  its 
subsequent  history  as  is  necessary 
to  trace  its  evolution  from  its  primi- 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     23 

tive  tongue  into  the  alien  Dutch 
and  English,  where  it  has  been  a 
part  for  the  greater  portion  of  three 
centuries.  The  early  documents  or 
records,  so  far  as  my  research  has 
extended,  fail  to  give  a  clew  to  a 
possible  meaning,  but,  with  the 
maps,  render  considerable  aid  to  the 
investigator,  by  means  of  which  a 
correct  insight  may  be  acquired  as 
to  the  first  application  of  the  name. 

Rev.  John  Heckewelder,  the  well- 
known  Moravian  missionary,  who 
devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
to  Christianizing  the  Delaware 
Indians  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio, 
was  the  first  to  offer  an  etymology 
for  the  name.  In  his  History,  Man- 


24      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.  ' 

ners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian 
Nations,  etc.,  1817,*  he  speaks  of 
"  The  current  account  given  by  the 
Delawares  and  Mohegans  of  the 
scenes  which  took  place  when  they 
were  first  made  to  taste  spirituous 
liquors  by  the  Dutch  who  landed  on 
New  York  Island.  .  .  They  called 
it  Manahachtanienk,  which  in  the 
Delaware  language,  means '  the  island 
where  we  all  became  intoxicated.' 
We  have  corrupted  this  name  into 
Manhattan,  but  not  so  as  to  destroy 
its  meaning  or  conceal  its  origin. 
The  last  syllable  which  we  have  left 
out  is  only  a  termination  implying 

*  Memoirs  Hist.  Soc.  of  Pa.,  vol.   xii.  p. 
262, 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.      25 

locality,  and  in  this  word  signifies 
as  much  as  '  where  we/  There  are 
few  Indian  traditions  so  well  sup 
ported  as  this."  Heckewelder 
qualifies  this  later,  as  quoted  by 
George  Folsom  in  the  Collections 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  * 
by  saying  "  The  Delawares  call 
this  place  (New  York  Island)  Manna- 
hat  tanink,  or  Mannahachtanink,  to 
this  day.  They  have  frequently 
told  me  that  it  derived  its  name 
from  this  general  intoxication,  and 
that  the  word  comprehended  the 
same  as  to  say  '  The  island  or 
place  of  general  intoxication.'  The 
Mahicanni  (otherwise  called  Mohig- 
*New  series,  vol.  i.  p.  73. 


26     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

gans  by  the  English,  and  Mahican- 
ders  by  the  Low  Dutch)  call  this 
place  by  the  same  name  as  the 
Delawares  do :  yet  think  it  is  owing 
or  given  in  consequence  of  a  kind  of 
wood  which  grew  there,  and  of  which 
the  Indians  used  to  make  their  bows 
and  arrows.  This  word  the  latter 
(Mohicanni)  call  ' gawaak!  ' 

Rev.  A.  S.  Anthony,  a  native 
Delaware  Indian,  residing  in  Canada, 
a  few  years  since  gave  the  Mohegan 
derivation  to  the  late  Dr.  D.  G. 
Brinton,*  who  says :  "  The  name 
for  the  compound  instrument,  l  bow 
and  arrow,'  is  Manhtaht,  the  first  *  a  ' 
being  nasal,  and  from  this  word, 
*  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  183. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     27 

Mr.  Anthony  states,  is  derived  the 
name  Manhattan,  properly  Mana- 
hahtank,  l  the  place  where  they 
gather  wood  to  make  bows.'  ' 

The  fact  that  individuals  of  two 
cognate  tribes,  using  precisely  the 
same  pronunciation,  derive  the 
word  differently  is  enough  in  itself 
to  throw  a  decided  doubt  on  both 
derivations.  The  Delaware  ety 
mology  proves  that  an  Indian  can 
not  always  be  depended  upon  for 
the  truth  of  his  ancestral  traditions, 
nor  for  the  correctness  of  his  own 
interpretations  of  what  we  may  call 
archaic  terms.  Both  the  tradition 
and  interpretation  in  this  instance 
are  entirely  supposititious,  for  the 


28      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

reason  that  the  name  designated 
the  locality  long  before  the  Dutch 
had  begun  a  settlement  or  had  even 
landed  upon  the  island  ;  and,  so  far 
as  drunkenness  is  concerned,  Van 
der  Donck  wrote  in  1656,*  "  In  the 
Indian  languages,  which  are  rich  and 
expressive,  they  have  no  word  to 
express  drunkenness.  Drunken  men 
they  call  fools."  Therefore  all 
aboriginal  words  indicating  this 
fault  of  the  human  family  are 
necessarily  in  their  application  sub 
sequent  to  the  settlement  of  the 
country,  and  had  such  been  the 
origin  of  Manhattan,  Van  der 

*  Description  of  New  Netherland,  in  Coll. 
N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.,  vol.  i.  p.  192. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     29 

Donck    would     surely    have     men 
tioned    it.* 

It  must  be  recollected,  when  con 
sidering  both  etymologies,  that  nei 
ther  the  Delawares  nor  Mohegans 
gave  the  name  to  the  island, f  and 
when  explained  to  Heckewelder,  the 
term  had  been  in  use  for  nearly  two 
centuries,  and  was,  therefore,  archaic 
and  beyond  their  time.  The  Mo- 

*In  the  various  Algonquian  dialects 
occur  several  descriptive  terms  to  express 
drunkenness  or  a  drunken  man  ;  but  all  are 
undoubtedly  subsequent  to  the  settlement 
of  the  country,  like  other  terms  which  grew 
out  of  new  conditions  and  ideas. 

f  The  Manhattans,  while  akin  to  both 
tribes,  were  geographically,  as  well  as 
linguistically,  intermediate  between  the 
Delawares  and  Mohegans. 


30     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

began  etymology  must  also  be  re 
garded,  when  compared  with  the 
early  forms,  as  being  for  many 
reasons  fully  as  faulty  and  unaccept 
able  as  the  Delaware,  and  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Anthony  believed  in  it,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  "  drunk  "  deriva 
tion  of  his  ancestors,  shows  that  he 
had  either  seen  Heckewelder's  two 
etymologies  in  print  previously,  or 
else  had  learned  it  from  some 
Mohegan.* 

*  The  Mohegan  derivation  of  their  own 
tribal  name  shows  how  little  we  can  de 
pend  upon  their  interpretation  of  their 
ancient  terms,  and  of  how  little  worth  are 
most  of  their  traditions.  Captain  Hendrik 
Aupaumut,  a  chief  of  that  Nation  who  died 
after  1829  (Ruttenber,  Indians  of  the  Hud 
son  River,  p.  325),  said  (Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     3 1 

Judge  Egbert  Benson's  reference 
to  the  town  of  Manhattans,  the  town 
of  the  Manhatoes,  the  townsmen  of 
Manhattans,  in  his  Memoir  on 

Coll.,  vol.  ix.  p.  101)  :  "The  etymology  of 
the  word  Muhheakunnuk,  according  to 
the  original  signification,  is  '  great  waters 
or  sea  which  are  constantly  in  motion  either 
ebbing  or  flowing.'  Our  forefathers  as 
serted  that  they  were  emigrants  from 
west-by-north  of  another  country  ;  that 
they  passed  over  great  waters,  where  this 
and  the  other  country  are  nearly  connected, 
called  Ukhkokpeck ;  it  signifies  snake 
water  or  water  where  snakes  are  abun 
dant  ;  and  that  they  lived  by  side  of  a  great 
water  or  sea,  from  whence  they  derive  the 
name  of  Muhheakunnuk  nation.  Muh- 
heakunneyuk  is  a  plural  number.  As  they 
were  coming  from  the  west  they  found 
many  great  waters,  but  none  of  them  flow 
ing  and  ebbing  like  Muhheakunnuk  until 
they  came  to  Hudson's  River  ;  then  they 


32      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

Indian  and  Dutch  Names,  read  be 
fore  the  Historical  Society  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  1817,  can 
hardly  be  called  an  interpretation, 

said  one  to  another,  this  is  like  Mnhhea- 
kunnuk  our  nativity."  The  late  Dr.  D.  G. 
Brinton  (Lenape  and  their  Legends,  p.  20) 
accepts  this  fully,  and  says  they  "dwelt 
on  the  tide  water  of  the  Hudson,  and  from 
this  their  name  was  derived.  Dr.  Trumbull, 
indeed,  following  Schoolcraft,  thinks  they 
took  theirtribalname  from  Maingan,  a  wolf, 
and  Mohganick  •=.  Chip.  Maniganikan, 
'  a  country  of  wolves.'  .  .  The  compound 
is  Machaak,  'great,'  hickan,  'tide,'  and 
ik,  '  animate  plural  termination.' "  The 
early  maps,  as  well  as  the  early  forms  of 
the  name,  most  decidedly  contradict  this 
assertion,  and  fully  confirm  the  wolf  deri 
vation  beyond  a  shadow  of  question.  On 
the  Carte  Figurative,  of  1616,  they  are 
called  Mahicans  (=  Cree,  Mahigan,  "a 
wolf ")  ;  and  those  to  the  eastward  Mor- 


The  Origin,  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     33 

as  it  is  simply  a  quotation  from 
some  of  the  old  documents.  But 
his  reference  to  a  "  Manhattan 
town,"  as  will  be  noticed,  hints  at 

hicans.  The  latter  "  were  called  the 
Pequttoog  '  the  destroyers,'  by  the  Narra- 
gansetts  ;  they  were  a  branch  of  the  Mo- 
hegan  nation,  which  migrating  eastward 
from  the  Hudson  Valley  had  occupied  the 
territory  on  both  sides  of  Mistick  River, 
and  extended  their  conquests  over  the 
greater  part  of  eastern  Connecticut " 
(Trumbull,  R.  W.  Key,  quoted  from 
Church's  Philip's  War,  Ed.  by  Dexter). 
This  and  other  authorities  which  might  be 
quoted  show  the  accepted  identity  of  the 
two  branches  of  the  nation. 

Champlain,  on  his  map  of  1632  (Doc.  Hist. 
N.  Y.,  vol.  iii.),lays  down  the  southern  part 
of  New  England,  extending  from  the  Hud 
son  to  Narragansett  Bay,  as  the  Habita 
tion  Sauvages  Mamganatigouoit.  This 
legend  really  settles  and  explains  the 


34      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

another  etymology,  which  will  be 
quoted  later  on. 

Henry     R.     Schoolcraft,     in     his 
Comments,    Philological    and     His- 

whole  matter,  for  allowing  for  the  French 
pronunciation  of  the  northern  dialects,  by 
Champlain,  it  signifies,  The  dwelling-place 
of  the  savages  of  the  wolf's  head  family , 
or  totem.  Otchipwe  Maingan,  "  a  wolf," 
-tigou  {^tt'gwdn},  "a  head,"  -oit  (=oht, 
-ote,-ode),  "family,"  "totem,"  or  "belong 
ing."  This  derivation  is  still  later  and 
further  confirmed  on  Creuxius'  Map  of 
1660  (Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  pp. 
184-5),  where  their  country  is  Latinized 
as  belonging  to  the  Natio  Luporii,  "Na 
tion  of  the  Wolf,"  same  as  that  belong 
ing  to  the  Eries  is  Latinized  as  Natio 
Felium,  "Nation  of  the  Cat."  In  all  the 
early  French  documents  they  are  invari 
ably  called  the  Loups,  "Wolfs,"  where  the 
English  called  them  the  Mohegans.  They 
were  probably  called  the  Nation  of  the 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     35 

torical,  on  the  Aboriginal  Names 
and  Geographical  Terminology  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  read 
before  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  in  1844,*  says:  "The  In 
dians  called  the  island  Mon-a-ton, 

wolf,  or,  Nation  of  the  wolfs  head  totem, 
because  they  were  characterized  by  wear 
ing  or  using  a  wolf's  head  as  a  tribal 
emblem  or  badge.  One  of  the  Sasquesah- 
anoughs,  described  by  Captain  John 
Smith  in  1608,  wore  "  a  wolfs  head  hanging 
in  a  chain  for  a  Jewell,"  and,  for  aught  we 
know  to  the  contrary,  he  may  have  been  a 
Mohegan,  then  on  a  visit  to  the  Sasques- 
ahanoughs.  Schoolcraft  came  very  near 
to  it,  when  he  said:  "  Mohegan  was  a 
phrase  to  denote  an  enchanted  wolf,  or  a 
wolf  of  supernatural  power.  This  was  the 
badge  of  arms  of  the  tribe,  rather  than  the 
name  of  the  tribe  itself."  (See  Note  on  the 
Black  Mmquas^) 
*Proc.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.,  1844,  p.  95. 


36     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

dropping  the  local  inflection  uk. 
The  word  is  variously  written  by  ear 
ly  writers,  the  name  as  pronounced 
to  me  in  1827,  by  Metoxon,  a  Mo- 
hegan  chief,  is  Mon-ah-tan-uk,  a 
phrase  which  is  descriptive  of  the 
whirlpool  of  Hellgate.  Mon,  or  man, 
as  here  written,  is  the  radix  of  the 
adjective  bad,  carrying  as  it  does,  in 
its  multiplied  forms,  the  various 
meanings  of  violent,  dangerous,  etc.; 
when  applied  in  compounds,  ah-tun 
is  a  generic  term  for  channel,  or 
stream  of  running  water  ;  uk  de 
notes  locality,  and  also  plurality. 
When  the  tribe  had  thus  denoted 
this  passage,  which  is  confessedly 
the  most  striking  and  characteristic 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     37 

geographical  feature  of  the  region, 
they  called  the  island  near  it,  to 
imply  the  anglicised  term  Man-hat- 
tan,  and  themselves  Mona-tuns,  that 
is  to  say  '  people  of  the  whirlpool/  " 
Schoolcraft  refers  to  Heckewelder's 
"  drunk  "  etymology  as  being  "  sheer 
inference,  unsupported  by  philol 
ogy."  His  own  derivation  is  even 
worse  than  Heckewelder's  and  in 
no  way  can  be  sustained  by  the 
early  forms  of  the  name,  no  matter 
how  pronounced  by  a  Mohegan 
chief  of  this  century.* 

The  Indians  were  so  exact  in  their 

*  Here  we  might  suppose  that  "  Me- 
toxon  "  would  have  given  Schoolcraft  the 
so-called  boiv  and  arrow  derivation  of  his 
ancestors,  if  it  were  the  true  one. 


38     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

application  of  a  name  to  a  place 
that  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  ob 
serve  that  this  atone  proves  School- 
craft's  error.  Schoolcraft  had  a  very 
fair  knowledge  of  the  Chippeway 
dialect,  but  when  he  applied,  as  he 
frequently  did,  Chippeway  elemen 
tary  syllables  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  Algonquian  names  in  the 
East,  without  sufficient  study  of  the 
Eastern  dialects,  he  most  miserably 
failed  in  nearly  every  instance. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Wheeler's  Etymologi 
cal  Vocabulary  of  Modern  Geograph 
ical  Names,  contributed  to  Web 
ster's  Unabridged  Dictionary  for 
1864,  and  editions  following,  has 
"  Manhattan  (Ind.  Munnohatari) l  the 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     39 

town  on  the  island.' '  At  one  time 
I  regarded  this  as  one  of  the  best 
etymologies  so  far  suggested,  espe 
cially  as  the  early  records,  as  quoted 
by  Judge  Benson,  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  spoke  of  the  "  town 
of  the  Manhattans/'  etc.,  but  an 
earlier  form  of  the  word  lately  dis 
covered  has  convinced  me  that  this 
etymology,  as  far  as  its  terminal 
atan  is  concerned,  is  a  mistake  like 
the  others. 

A  writer  in  the  Historical  Maga 
zine  for  1866  (vol.  i.  p.  89)  suggests 
that :  "  the  name  was  a  generic  term 
designating  not  only  the  occupants 
of  the  island  now  called  Manhattan, 
but  of  Long  Island,  and  the  main- 


40     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

land  north  of  Manhattan.  The  term 
Manhattan  indicates  this,  being  ap 
parently  from  Menohhunnety  which 
in  Eliot's  Bible  is  given  as  the  equiv 
alent  of  islands,  or  as  applied  to  the 
people,  '  the  people  of  the  islands.'  " 
This  meaning  of  the  name  has  been 
frequently  quoted  by  other  writers, 
and  while  the  island  part  is  correct, 
the  application  to  the  neighboring 
country  is  too  extended  to  be  accept 
able. 

Rev.  N.  W.  Jones,  in  his  Indian 
Bulletin  for  1867,  translates  Manhat 
tan  as  "  rapids,"  erroneously  offering 
as  an  equivalent  the  Abnaki  Merii- 
tany  which  is  a  misquotation  for 
Mennitann,  "it  is  rapid,"  an  inter- 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     41 

pretation   similar    to    Schoolcraft's, 
but  from  different  elements. 

The  late  J.  Hammond  Trumbull, 
in  his  Composition  of  Indian  Geo 
graphical  Names,  1870  (p.  22),  re 
marks  :  "  New  York  Island  was 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  '  the  island  ' 
— Manate,  Manhatte ;  sometimes  as 
'  an  island  ' — Manathan,  Menatan, 
Manhattan;  more  accurately  as  *  the 
small  island  ' — Manhaates,  Manattes, 
and  the  Manados,  of  the  Dutch. 
The  island  Indians  collectively  were 
called  Manhattens ;  those  of  the 
small  island  Manhatesen.  '  They 
deeply  mistake,'  as  Governor  Stuy- 
vesant's  agents  declared  in  1659, 'who 
interpret  the  general  name  of  Man- 


42     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

hattans  into  the  particular  town 
built  upon  a  little  island  ;  because  it 
signified  the  whole  country  and 
province.'  "  This  suggestion  of  Dr. 
Trumbull,  and  others  previous  to 
him,  that  the  name  denoted  "  an 
island  "  or  "  a  little  island,"  would 
seem  to  bring  the  subject  to  a 
finality  ;  but  while  it  is  agreed  that 
the  element  indicating  '  an  island ' 
is  embodied  in  the  name,  it  is  evi 
dent  that  something  remains  undis 
covered  and  unaccounted  for  in  its 
termination.  The  general  use  of  the 
term  by  the  Dutch,  of  which  Dr. 
Trumbull  gives  us  another  quotation 
from  the  records,  has  already  been 
referred  to — an  application,  as  before 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     43 

remarked,  having  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  Indians'  use  of  the 
term,  or  his  understanding  of  it.  In 
fact,  if  the  Dutch  records  hint  at 
anything,  it  is  that  the  term  means 
"  a  little  town  on  an  island,"  or  "  a 
town  on  a  little  island." 

Mr.  Bernard  Fernow,*  basing  his 
remarks  upon  the  so-called  Carte 
Figurative  of  1816,  which  may  be 
one  of  the  cartographical  perver 
sions  of  later  time,  suggests  the 
origin  of  the  Indian  names  there 
upon  from  Spanish  sources.  He 
says :  "  That  it  is  hard  to  believe 
they  were  not  first  applied  by  the 

*  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  Amer 
ica,  1884  >  v°l-  iv«  P.  434- 


44     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

Spaniards  and  afterward  repeated 
by  the  Indians  to  the  before-men 
tioned  Dutch  prisoners  among  the 
Mohawks.*  We  find  one  tribe 
called  Capitanasses,  while  in  col 
loquial  Spanish  Capitanazo  means  a 
great  warrior ;  another  whom  the 
Dutch  later  knew  as  Black  Minquas, 
is  designated  by  the  name  Gachos, 
the  Spanish  word  Gacho  being  ap 
plied  to  black  cattle.  Still  another 

*  For  certain  reasons  these  Cartes  Fig- 
uratives  seem  to  have  been  drawn  later 
than  their  supposed  dates,  and  subsequent 
to  the  documents  to  which  they  were  found 
attached.  The  originals  seem  to  have 
been  two  rough  drafts  according  to  the 
Dutch  legend,  written  on  the  map  assigned 
to  1614  by  Mr.  Brodhead.— Col.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
vol.  i. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     45 

is  called  Canoomakers;  l  canoe  '  being 
a  word  of  the  Indian  tongue  of 
South  America,  the  North  American 
Indian  could  only  have  learned  it 
from  the  Spaniards,  and  in  turn 
have  taught  its  meaning  to  the 
Dutch.  Even  the  Indian  name 
given  to  the  island  upon  which  the 
city  of  New  York  now  stands,  spelled 
on  the  earliest  maps  Monados,  Man- 
ados,  Manatees,  and  said  to  mean  a 
place  of  drunkenness,  points  to  a 
Spanish  origin  from  the  colloquially 
used  noun  Monas,  drunkenness,  Mon 
ados,  drunken  men."  * 

*  Mr.  Fernow  follows  with  some  more 
seeming  correspondences  (Narrative  and 
Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  iv.  p.  434). 
He  remarks:  "  The  names  of  places  given 


46     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

This  resemblance  of  Indian  words 
to  those  of  Latin  tongues  has 
been  often  the  subject  of  discussion 
and  comparison.  Such  accidental 

in  their  corruption  by  the  Dutch,  in  a  grant 
covering  part  of  Albany  Co.  Semesseerse, 
Spanish  semencera,  '  land  sown  with' 
seed  ;  Negogance,  '  place  for  trade/  Span 
ish  negocia,  '  trade.'  In  a  note  to  a  previ 
ous  page  [430]  he  derives  the  Iroquoian  term 
Tawalsontha,  'a  heap  of  dead  men's 
bones  '  (?)  from  the  French  Tas  de  jonchets, 
having  same  expression,  and  this  time 
assigns  the  two  Algonquian  words  to  the 
French,  which  is  possibly  a  slip  of  the  pen, 
although  it  really  makes  no  difference.  Mr. 
Fernow,  while  a  learned  historiographer, 
was  completely  deluded  by  these  false  re 
semblances,  which  really  have  no  founda 
tion.  It  is  time  they  were  exhibited  in 
their  true  light  before  they  are  quoted 
further  by  historians  and  others  (as  they 
have  been)  who  know  no  better. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     47 

similarities  can  be  traced  in  many 
names  of  various  linguistic  stocks  of 
America,  but  they  will  amount  to 
nothing  whatever  in  the  end,  because 

In  the  first  place,  the  above  grant  did 
not  cover  any  part  of  the  present  Albany 
Co.,  as  Mr.  Fernow  states,  but  a  portion  of 
Rensselaer  Co.,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river.  On  the  original  grant  to  Killian 
Van  Rensselaer  (Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  xiv. 
p.  i,  dated  Aug.  6,  1630)  it  is  stated, 
"  there  came  by  accident  several  Indians 
[named]  proprietors  of  their  respective  par 
cel  of  land,  to  a  place  where  Jan  Jansen 
Meyns  camped  with  some  men  to  cut  tim 
ber  for  the  ship."  This  land,  it  further 
recites,  "  belonged  to  the  said  Naswanemit, 
in  particular  called  Gesmesseeck"  (=Ges- 
mess-es-ieK)>  i.  e.,  "land  where  trees  (or  tim 
ber)  were  cut."  Semcsseerse,  as  Mr.  Fernow 
writes  it,  was  an  error  of  some  copyist  in 
1672  (Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.i.  p.  44),  and  again 
abbreviated  as  Semesseeck  in  1675  (Ibid., 


48     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

they  are  all  adventitious.  For  ex 
ample,  we  might  just  as  well  claim 
that  the  likeness  of  the  Narragansett 
and  Long  Island,  homes,  "  an  old 
man,"  *  to  the  Latin,  homo,  would 

vol.  iii.  pp.  549,  560).  The  grant  further 
recites  "  away  north  to  Negagonse"  or  vice 
versa,  "  from  said  fort  to  a  little  south  of 
Moenemmes  Castle  ";  and  as  the  record  of 
1674  states,  "  Whereabouts  the  aforesaid 
Fort  Orange  was  formerly  built."  Did  this 
refer  to  an  old  Fort  Orange  ?  The  term 
neg-agon-se  refers  to  something  "  old 
or  ancient,  first  in  order,  passed  by," 
Mass.  Neg-agon-es-et  "  to  the  old  (thing)." 
Compare  Abnaki  negannsak  oo,  "  bois  viettx, 
mort"  ;  NegannU  "  chose  anct'enne"',  Mic- 
miac  nkdnegdn,  "  an  old  house."  Not  an 
element  in  either  name  to  indicate  "plant 
ing,"  "sowing,"  or  "trading,"  but  some 
thing  else  decidedly  more  interesting  in 
throwing  light  on  the  early  days. 
*This  name  Homes,  "  an  old  man  "  (R. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     40, 

indicate  the  ancient  Romans  as 
the  first  visitors  to  our  continent ; 
or  that  it  might  have  been  a  survi 
val  or  a  reminder  of  Verazzano's 
Voyage  of  1624. 

The  names  to  which  Mr.  Fernow 
refers  can,  probably,  all  be  identi 
fied,  and  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
search  a  Spanish  dictionary  for  them. 
Van  der  Donck  informs  us  that  the 
Black  Minquas  were  not  so  called 

Williams'  Key,  chap,  v.)  now  designates 
two  localities :  Holmes'  Hill,  at  North  Sea, 
Southampton,  L.  I.  ("  Homes'  hill,"  1691  and 
1703),  and  Holmes'  Hole,  Martha's  Vine 
yard,  Mass.  Gov.  Mayhew  wrote  (Deed, 
1642):  "as  far  as  the  easternmost  chop  of 
Hawses'  Hole."  A  record  of  1681  "  Ponit 
an  Indian  Sachem  of  Nobnocket  alias 
holmes  his  hole." 


50      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

on  account  of  their  color,  but  be 
cause  they  wore  a  black  badge  on 
their  breast.*  The  word  canoe  had 
been  adopted  into  the  English 
language,  and  was  in  common  use 
long  anterior  to  the  supposed  date  of 
the  Carte  Figurative.  Hariot  made 
use  of  it  in  1585,1  as  did  also  Cap 
tain  John  Smith  in  16084  The  word 
CanoomakerSy  as  displayed  on  the 
Chart,  seems  to  bespeak  an  English 

*  He  says  (Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.,  N.  S., 
vol.  i.  p.  209)  :  "The  beavers  are  mostly 
taken  far  inland,  there  being  very  few  of 
them  near  the  settlement,  particularly  by 
the  Black  Minquas,  who  are  thus  named 
because  they  wear  a  black  badge  on  their 
breast,  and  not  because  they  are  really 
black." 

f  Narrative,  etc.,  p.  34. 

\  Arber's  Smith,  p.  14. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan,      c  i 

origin,  rather  than  either  Spanish  or 
Dutch.  Finally,  it  is  decidedly  ab 
surd  to  suppose  that  the  Indians  of 
Hudson  River,  at  that  early  date,  or 
indeed,  at  any  time,  were  so  conver 
sant  with  words  of  Spanish  deriva 
tion  as  to  have  repeated  them  to  the 
Dutch  or  English,  in  order  to  de 
scribe  tribes  or  people  more  remote. 
In  fact,  this  Spanish  origin  is  fully 
as  bad  as  the  English  pun  derivation 
of  Man-with-a-hat-on,  which  is  occa 
sionally  quoted  in  the  newspapers, 
with  a  traditional  story  to  give  it 
some  credence. 

Mr.  E.  M.  Ruttenber,  in  a  recent 
work  *    rejects    his    former   belief  f 

*  Memorial  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  i.  p.  35. 

f  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Hudson,  pp.  77,  36. 


C2      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

in  the  derivation  given  in  the  His 
torical  Magazine,  before  quoted,  and 
remarks  :  "  Notwithstanding  the 
stern  logic  of  facts,  it  is  not  an  agree 
able  task  to  divest  Manhattan  Island 
of  other  claims  to  that  title  than  that 
of  adoption ;  to  break  the  glamour 
which  enshrouds  the  Manhattans, 
or  destroy  the  fine  interpretations 
which  have  been  given  to  their  pre 
sumed  name  ;  yet  it  cannot  longer 
be  received  as  an  historical  fact  that 
the  name  Manhattan  is  from  or  after 
a  tribe  of  savages,  among  whom  the 
Dutch  made  their  first  settlement,nor 
can  the  interpretation  be  accepted 
that  the  name  was  from  Menohhan- 
net,  in  Mohecan  the  equivalent  of 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     §3 

Islands,  or  as  defining  *  the  people 
of  the  islands,'  for  both  are  incor 
rect.  The  Manna-hata  of  Hudson 
did  not  refer  to  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  nor  to  a  people,  but  was  and 
is  a  compound  Algonquin  de 
scriptive  term,  than  which  there  is 
none  more  pure,  none  more  compre 
hensive,  and  none  more  appropriate 
to  the  object  described.  Divested  of 
its  coalescents  it  presents  ma,  as  in 
Manitto,  the  Great  Spirit,  or,  in  a 
modified  sense,  any  object  that  is 
noble,  or  that  may  command  rever 
ence  ;  na,  excellence,  abundance, 
something  surpassing ;  ata  or  ta,  a 
beautiful  scene,  valley,  or  landscape, 
or,  omitting  the  final  a,  'at,'  'an 


54     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

object  near  by.'  The  significance  of 
these  root  terms  cannot  be  escaped." 

If  these  so-called  "root  terms," 
were  correct  and  of  universal  appli 
cation  they  would  apply  in  other 
names  of  places ;  but  the  truth  is, 
the  use  of  such  a  method  of  proced 
ure  and  analysis  to  other  combina 
tions  would  meet  with  disaster  and 
bring  confusion  on  the  comparative 
method  of  studying  Algonquian 
nomenclature. 

The  incorporation  of  three  ele 
mentary  syllables  of  analogous 
meaning  is  enough  in  itself  to  cast 
a  decided  doubt  upon  this  interpre 
tation,  for  the  reason  that  Algon 
quian  place-names  are  not  formed 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.      55 

in  that  way.  Again,  ma  is  not  the 
radical  of  Manitto,  as  our  best 
scholars,  such  as  Trumbull,*  Brin- 

*  Trumbull,  in  his  Algonkin  Verb,  re 
marks :  "  Manzt,  i.  e.,  the  Preternatural, 
often  translated  as  '  God,'  '  spirit/  and  the 
like,  is  regularly  formed  as  the  suppositive 
(3d  pers.  sing.)  and  participial  of  a  primary 
verb  meaning  '  to  surpass,  exceed,  be  more 
than.'  The  verbal  root  an,  '  surpassing,  go 
ing  beyond,' is  the  base  of  Mass.  anui(anuet 
El.),  '  it  surpasses,  is  more  than  ';  Del.  alui 
(eluwi,  '  most/  Zeisb.),  West ;  Cree  a' in 
(N  ayewy  'more,  surpassing'  etc.;  Lac.); 
Chip,  ani-  (in  composition  marks  '  going  on/ 
Baraga).  Eliot  employs  anue  to  form  the 
comparative  degree,  as  in  Matt,  xviii.  8,  9, 
anue  ivunnegen,  'it  is  better.'  It  takes 
personal  form  in  Mass.  an-int  '  it  is  rotten, 
decayed/  /.  e.,  '  goes  beyond,  is  more  than 
ripe,  mature,  or  fit  for  use'  ;  and  with 
anin,  subj.  aninmt,  'he  is  corrupt,  rotten' 
(John  xi.  39  ;  Ps.  xiv.  i)  ;  inan.  ptcpl.  ne 
aneuk,  '  that  which  is  corrupt '  (Mai.  i.  14  ; 
Ps.  xii.  4) ;  anim.  noh  anit,  '  he  who  ex- 


56     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

ton,  *  Chamberlain  f  and  Gatschet  :£ 

ceeds,  surpasses,  is  more  than' — the 
natural,  common,  or  normal.  With  the 
indefinite  and  impersonal  pronominal  pre 
fix  -manit,  somebody  or  something  that 
exceeds,  is  preternatural.  With  the  pred 
icative  affix  Manit,-u  (Mam'tto,  Manittoo, 
El.),  he  or  it  is  manit;  nen  mam'tto,  '  I  am 
God '  (Is.  xliii.  12).  '  They  cry  out  Manittdo, 
that  is,  it  is  a  God,'  says  Roger  Williams, 
at  the  apprehension  of  any  excellency  in 
man,  woman,  bird,  etc.;  and  so  they  say 
of  everything  which  they  cannot  compre 
hend.  In  composition  the  impersonal  pre 
fix  m  is  not  retained  ;  e.  g.,  Del.  Get-annito 
(Zeisb.)  —  Mass,  kehtannit,  '  the  greatest 
god  '  (for  the  Lord  God,  Gen.  xxiv.  7)." 

*  Lenape  and  their  Legends,  p.  219.  Brin- 
ton  believed  the  an  of  mannzt  to  be  a 
intensive  prefix  to  the  real  root  //,  thus 
disagreeing  with  Trumbull,  but  he  is  evi 
dently  mistaken  and  Trumbull's  derivation 
far  preferable. 

f  American  Notes  and  Queries.  Phila 
delphia,  1888,  vol.  i.  pp.  305,  6. 

^Journal  American  Folk  Lore,  vol.  xii. 
pp.  211,  212. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     57 

have  repeatedly  shown,  neither  does 
the  radical  of  Manitto  enter  into 
the  composition  of  Manhattan,  as 
I  shall  presently  demonstrate. 
Mr.  Ruttenber,  following  Hudson, 
locates  Manhattan  on  the  Jersey 
side  of  the  river,  and  says  in  a 
note  that  De  Vries  confirms  Hud 
son's  location  of  the  name,  which  is 
a  decided  mistake,  for  he  does  noth 
ing  of  the  kind.  Relating  his  return 
voyage  from  a  visit  to  Hartford  in 
1639,  De  Vries  writes  :*  "  Arriving 
about  evening  at  the  Manhattes, 
opposite  Fort  Amsterdam."  As 
the  critical  reader  cannot  help  but 

*Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.,  N.  S.  vol.  i.  p. 
261. 


58     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

observe,  this  statement  in  no  way 
confirms  Hudson,  for  it  evidently 
means  that  De  Vries,  arrived  at  the 
Manhattes,  and  dropped  anchor 
opposite  Fort  Amsterdam,  which 
was  on  Manhattan  Island.  Nothing 
else  can  be  made  of  the  statement, 
and  it  corresponds  with  other 
remarks  of  De  Vries.  De  Laet,  how 
ever,  who  wrote  ten  years  previous 
ly  says  :*  "  On  the  right  or  eastern 
bank  of  the  river  from  its  mouth 
dwell  the  Manhattae,  or  Manatt- 
hanes,  a  fierce  nation  and  hostile 
to  our  people  from  whom  neverthe 
less  they  purchased  the  island  .  .  . 

*Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.,  N.  S.,  vol.  i.  p. 
308. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     59 

opposite  the  Manhattans  dwell  the 
Machkentiwomi" 

Rev.  B.  F.  Da  Costa,  who  contrib 
utes  the  first  chapter  to  the  same 
history,  in  a  very  scholarly  and 
critical  discussion  of  the  early  maps, 
refutes  unknowingly  many  of  the 
deductions  given  by  Mr.  Ruttenber 
in  the  second. 

In  the  foregoing  rtsumJ  the  vari 
ous  significations  and  derivations 
offered  for  the  name  Manhattan 
have  been  quoted  and  criticised  ; 
they  reveal  what  a  chaos  of  uncer 
tainty  and  doubt  the  subject  still 
remains.  The  question  will  now  be 
treated  from  another  standpoint, 
bringing  to  bear  upon  it  the  light 


60     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

afforded  by  some  recent  discoveries, 
without  which  this  essay  would 
never  have  been  written.  There 
can  be  no  question  as  to  the  fact, 
and  abundant  proof  can  be  adduced 
from  the  records  of  both  the  Dutch 
and  English,  to  corroborate  the 
same,  that  the  name  in  the  begin 
ning  was  bestowed  upon  the  island 
still  bearing  it.*  Again,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  whatever,  as  is  evi 
denced  by  all  the  early  writers  and 
confirmed  by  all  the  early  docu 
ments,  that  the  name  is  of  aborigi- 

*A  record  of  1626  states  (Coll.  Hist. 
N.  Y.t  vol.  i.  p.  37):  "They  have  pur 
chased  the  Island  Manhattes  from  the 
Indians  for  the  value  of  60  guilders  [$24.00]  ; 
'tis  11,000  Morgens  in  size." 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     6 1 

nal  origin,  no  matter  how  spelled 
or  pronounced  by  alien  tongues. 
The  Dutch,  French,  and  English 
all  had  their  own  way  of  spelling 
it  and  hardly  twice  alike.  For 
example,  Earl  Bellomont,  *  wrote  in 
1700:  "  Menades,  is  the  French 
name  for  this  Island  of  New  York, 
taken  I  suppose,  from  the  Indian 
name  of  Manhattan."  The  Dutch 
abbreviated  it  as  much  as  possible 
for  ease  of  utterance.  The  Cartes 
Figuratives  of  1614  and  i6i6f  are 
supposed  to  have  been  the  earliest 
maps  on  which  the  name  appears ; 
but  both  of  these  maps  may  have 

*  Coll.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  iv.  p.  793. 
fColl.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  i. 


62      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

been  delineated  from  information 
obtained  subsequent  to  their  sup 
posed  dates.  This,  however,  is  a 
topic  worthy  of  more  extensive 
treatment  than  is  warranted  at  this 
time,  and  it  may  be  made  the  sub 
ject  of  future  investigation.*  There 
is,  however,  an  earlier  map,  recently 
discovered  in  the  General  Archives 
of  Simancas,  Spain,  f  of  unique 
value,  which  was  prepared  from 
English  sources  for  James  I.  A 
copy  found  its  way  to  Philip  III. 
of  Spain,  by  Velasco,  March  22, 
1612.  Rev.  Dr.  B.  F.  Da  Costa, 
who  discusses  this  map  at  some 

*  See  note  p.  44. 

f  Genesis  of  the  U.  S.,  Brown,  p.  456. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     63 

length,  and  whose  opinion  is  worth 
quoting,  says  :*  "  It  was  a  copy  of 
a  map  made  soon  after  the  voyage 
to  New  England  and  Virginia,  in 
1607.  The  compiler  had  not  heard 
of  Hudson's  voyage,  as  that  navi 
gator  did  not  reach  England  until 
November  7,  1609.  If  he  had 
received  any  information  from 
Hudson,  he  would  have  shown  the 
river  terminating  in  a  shallow  in 
navigable  brook,  whereas,  the  river 
is  indicated,  in  accordance  with 
Captain  John  Smith's  idea,  as  a 
strait  leading  to  a  larger  body  of 
water.  Further  the  map  contra 
dicts  Hudson,  who  represents  the 
*  Memorial  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  i.  p.  30. 


64     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

Hoboken  side  of  the  river  as 
Mannahata,  while  this  map  puts 
the  name  on  both  sides,  Manahata 
on  the  west,*  and  Manahatin  on 
the  east.  It  is  not  unlikely  that 
Hudson  had  with  him  a  copy  of  the 
map  for  his  guidance  on  the  voyage 
in  the  Half  Moon,  f  On  the  origi- 

*The  Map  of  1632  (Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
vol.  i.)  has  the  legend  on  the  Jersey  side, 
"  Opposite  the  island  Manhatas"  Per 
haps  the  same  idea  was  intended  to  be 
conveyed  in  this  case  by  placing  the  name 
on  both  sides. 

f  It  is  my  belief  that  it  is  not  only  likely, 
but  an  undoubted  fact,  that  Hudson  had  a 
copy  of  this  map  with  him,  on  this  memor 
able  voyage,  for  a  contemporary  stated 
that  Hudson  had  letters  and  maps  from 
Captain  John  Smith.  If  not  why  should 
his  mate  Robert  Juet,  in  his  daily  Jour 
nal  of  the  voyage  (Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     65 

nal  map,  of  which  Velasco's  example 
was  a  copy,  the  land  west  of  the 
river  was  colored  blue,  and  the 
legend  says  that  it  is  described  by 
information  drawn  from  the  Indians. 
At  all  events,  we  have  in  this  Eng- 

Soc.,  N.  S.,  vol.  i.  p.  331),  have  been  so 
explicit  and  particular  as  to  use  the  identi 
cal  spelling  as  it  occurs  on  the  map,  where 
he  speaks  of  the  "  cliff  that  looked  of  the 
color  of  white  green,  as  though  it  were 
either  a  copper  or  silver  mine  .  .  .  it  is  on 
that  side  of  the  river  that  is  called  Manna- 
hat  a"  unless  he  had  a  copy  of  the  chart 
before  him.  This  is  surely  the  strongest 
kind  of  circumstantial  evidence,  for  in  the 
Journal,  and  on  the  Map,  occur  the  only 
instances  of  this  spelling  and  applica 
tion  of  the  term  to  the  west  side  of  the 
river.  The  contemporaneous  proof  is  as 
follows  (Arber's  Smith,  p.  cxiv.)  :  "  After 
he  discovered  Chesapeake  Bay,  Smith  evi 
dently,  sent  to  Hudson,  with  the  third 


66     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

lish  map,  the  first  seventeenth- 
century  delineation  of  the  region, 
and  one  showing  that  the  English 
knew  the  form  and  general  charac 
ter  of  the  country  which  the  Crown 
conveyed  to  the  colonists  of  the 

return  of  Captain  Newport,  about  Novem 
ber  1608,  a  duplicate  of  the  '  Mappe  of  the 
Bay  and  Rivers,'  which  he  then  sent  to  the 
Council  in  London.  Newport  reached 
London  in  January  1609  ;  soon  after  which 
Hudson  went  to  Holland  from  whence  he 
set  sail  on  his  Third  Voyage  on  March  25, 
1609.  Emmanuel  Van  Meteren,  in  his 
Historze  der  Neder  Lanscher,  states : 
'  This  idea  had  been  suggested  to  Hudson 
by  some  letters  and  maps  which  his  friend 
Captain  Smith,  had  sent  him  from  Virginia  ; 
and  by  which  he  informed  him  that  there 
was  a  sea  leading  to  the  Western  Ocean 
by  the  north  of  the  southern  English 
Colony.'  Fol.  629,  Ed.  1614  ;  and  at  fol. 
674,  of  the  French  edition  of  1618." 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     67 

North  and  South  Virginia  in  1 606. 
So  far  as  known,  it  was  clearly  the 
English  who  first  became  acquainted 
with  the  name  that  the  aborigines 
applied  to  the  island  upon  which 
our  great  metropolitan  city  stands. 
Whether  or  not  this  was  an  abo 
riginal  word  or  a  corruption  of  a 
Castilian  term,  future  investigators 
may  decide."  As  Dr.  Da  Costa 
further  observes,  "  the  English  map 
with  its  Manahatin  furnishes  the 
earliest  form  that  most  resembles 
the  present." 

The  undeniable  fact  now  presents 
itself  that  Manahatin  is  not  only 
the  most  ancient  form  of  the  name 
so  far  discovered,  but  also  a  com- 


68     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

pound  term,  representing  the  true 
elementary  constituents  as  uttered 
by  the  Indians  far  better  than  does 
any  other  notation  ;  and  from  which 
it  is  much  easier  to  study  its  deriva 
tion  and  to  trace  its  subsequent 
changes. 

Heckewelder,Trumbull  and  others, 
as  has  been  noticed,  all  recognized 
the  first  element  Manah,  as  the 
equivalent  for  "  island."  This  deri 
vation  cannot  and  must  not  be  set 
aside,  for  it  is  abundantly  paralleled 
in  the  Massachusetts  Munnah,  or 
Menoh ;  Abnaki  Menah ;  Delaware 
Mena,  and  in  other  Algonquian 
names  of  islands,  to  which  the  same 
stem  is  affixed.  It  is  also  confirmed 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     69 

by  its  primary  and  subsequent  ap 
plication  to  the  island,  likewise  by 
all  the  early  forms,  especially  those 
from  English  sources,  such  as  Mana- 
hatin,  Munahaddons,  Munhattoes, 
etc.,  and  it  should  be  accepted  fully 
as  the  unquestioned  meaning  of  the 
first  two  syllables. 

There  still  remains  for  our  more 
critical  consideration  the  termina 
tion  in  -atin,  -atan,  -ato,  or  -ado,  with 
or  without  the  superfluous  Dutch  or 
English  plural  in  s,  which  we  find 
so  often  added,  when  appearing  in 
compound  words,  for  it  is  never 
used  alone  ;  the  inseparable  generic 
denoting  a  hill  or  a  mountain,  is 
-atin,  -adin,  or  -attan,  and,  as  more  or 


70     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

less  varied  or  abbreviated,  is  in  fre 
quent  use  in  all  Algonquian  dialects. 
Father  Cuoq,  a  missionary  among 
the  Nipissings  in  Canada,  in  his  pref 
atory  remarks  on  Algonquian  gram 
matical  composition,*  says  :  "Proper 
finals  and  suffixes,  as  in  -atin,  moun 
tain."  He  further  says,f  "-atiny which 
is  more  used  than  adjiw  (=  Mass. 
-adchu),  another  suffix  of  same  mean 
ing.  -Atin,  '  declivity,  side,  little 
hill.'  "  ^  The  same  radical  presents 
itself  in  the  Delaware  Kittatinny^ 
"  the  great  hills "  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  in  the  Abnaki  Katahdin,  the 
great  mountain  of  Maine.  On  Long 

*  Lexique  de  la  Algonquine. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  15.  \ Ibid.,  p.  68. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan,      ji 

Island,  in  the  dialect  of  the  Massa- 
peags,  whose  language  was  identical 
with  that  spoken  by  the  Manhattans, 
it  appears  in  the  term  Wanasquat- 
tan,  from  Wanasqua,  a  point,  top, 
or  ending,  and  -attan,  hills  ;  an  analy 
sis  confirmed  by  a  record  of  1696,* 
in  which  it  appears  as  "Wanasquat- 
tan  on  ye  poynt  of  hilles,"  and 
paralleled  by  Eliot  f  in  Wanasquod- 
tinmiuk,  in  the  top  of  the  mountains. 
Other  examples  could  be  cited 
showing  the  employment  of  this 
generic,  but  enough  has  been  given 
to  show  its  identity  with  the  ter 
minal  of  the  name  Manhattan.  The 

*  Huntington,  L.  I.  Rec.,  vol.  ii.  p.  188. 
f  Micah  iv.  i. 


72      The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

interchange  of  the  /  and  d  in  the 
foregoing  examples  should  be 
noticed,  because  it  fully  explains 
the  occurrence  of  d  in  some  of  the 
early  notations,  such  as  Manados, 
Manadoes,  etc.  These  consonantal 
substitutions  have  been  noticed  in 
the  Algonquian  speech  of  the  present 
day,  and  they  undoubtedly  occurred 
as  well  in  all  the  older  dialects  of 
the  same  family.*  Therefore,  with 

*  Dr.  A.  F.  Chamberlain,  in  his  Language 
of  the  Mississages,  p.  12,  bears  out  this 
statement  in  the  following  words  :  "  Even 
where  the  consonantal  sounds  are  com 
paratively  simple  a  variation  in  the  utter 
ance  of  the  same  word  by  the  same  indi 
vidual  on  different  occasions  has  been  fre 
quently  noticed,  and  certain  letters  fail  to 
to  be  clearly  distinguished  from  certain 
others." 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.     73 

all  these  corroborative  facts,  one 
dove-tailing  with  the  other,  the 
name  should  undoubtedly  be  trans 
lated  "  the  island  of  hills,"  and 
when  applied  in  the  plural  to  the 
natives  of  the  island,  as  it  was  fre 
quently  done,  we  have  the  "  people 
of  the  island  of  hills."  *  Manahach- 
tanienck,  or  Mannahattanink,  the 
Delaware  and  Mohegan  forms  as 
written  by  Heckwelder,  have  the 
locative  termination  in  -ink,  denot- 

*  Blackwell's  Island,  having  been  also 
called  by  the  Indians  Minnahanonck 
(=  Munnohan-anke),  "the  island  place" 
or  "on  the  island,"  precludes  the  possi 
bility  of  a  "  little  island  "  for  the  larger  and 
more  noted  island  ;  and  besides  that  "  the 
island  of  hills  "  is  much  more  appropriate 
in  every  way. 


74     The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan. 

ing  "at,"  or  "on,"  otherwise  they  are 
both  consonous  with  our  early  form, 
and  I  can  see  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  bear  the  same  analysis 
and  the  same  interpretation. 

That  Manahatin,  in  accordance 
with  Algonquian  custom  and  this 
analysis,  was  descriptive  of  the 
topography  of  the  island  at  the 
date  of  its  discovery  and  its  settle 
ment,  all  the  early  Dutch  pictures 
of  New  Amsterdam  bear  witness.* 

It  is  well  known  that  the  surface 
of  the  island  was  indented  by  deep 
valleys  and  quite  broken  by  ridges 
of  gneiss  and  hornblendic  slate, 
especially  in  the  northern  part,  im- 

*See  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  iv.  p.  116. 


The  Origin  of  the  Name  Manhattan.      75 

mense  masses  of  which  have  been 
removed  in  grading.  On  the  west 
side,  toward  the  north,  the  highest 
point  was  238  feet  above  tide  water. 
The  south  part  of  the  island  was 
covered  by  drift  and  bowlders,  pre 
senting  conical  hills,  some  of  which 
were  80  feet  above  the  present 
grade  of  the  street.* 

*  French's  Gazetteer  of  N.  Y.,  p.  418. 


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